Story+1985-01-07+Indianapolis,+IN

“Hello, Indianapolis! (crowd cheers) ready for a little road trip? (crowd cheers) ah, let’s gas her up now…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Darlington County”**

“This is about falling down…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Johnny 99”**

“Thanks…we’re gonna be playing for a long time tonight so you guys can sit down if you want (crowd cheers) gonna be a long show …it’s, uh…hard world to find anything to hold on to and uh…people wanna believe in something so bad that sometimes they’ll believe in anything…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Reason to Believe”**

“This is a…song about…uh, family…and duty…what happens when… what you feel in heart and what your conscience is telling you to do is two different things…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Highway Patrolman”**

“Thank you…oh…this next song…I guess it was in the mid-’70, we were, we did a show in Memphis…it was in the middle of the night…me and, and Steve, my guitar player, decided we wanted to get something to eat…so we called a taxi cab, a taxi came to the motel…and, uh, the guy said that he knew of this place to eat out by Elvis’ house...and so we said “Oh, you know where Elvis lives?” he says “Yeah” “Well, take us there right now” so I remember we went out there, it was about 3 am and I seen a light in the window…and I decided that for some reason I was gonna jump over the wall, run up to the door and meet Elvis, I guess (chuckles) (crowd cheers) it was a stupid thing to do ‘cause I hate it when people do it at my house (chuckles) (crowd cheers) but, anyway, I climb up over the wall and I run up the drive, I get to the front door and the guards come out and they ask me what I want and I say “Well, gee, is Elvis home?” and they said, uh, “No, he’s in Lake Tahoe,” I said “Well, see, I was like, see, I was on the cover of Time and Newsweek and, and” (crowd cheers) and they go “Oh yeah, sure you were” (chuckles) “Oh, oh, you’re that guy! Yeah, yeah, alright, yeah, sure, come with us” (chuckles) so they took me and they put me back out onto the street (chuckles) but, uh, they were nice about it anyway (chuckles) but, uh…I remember how I felt when, when a friend of mine called me up and told me that, that Elvis had died, you know, it was like kind of some little piece of you died with him or something ‘cause it was hard to understand how somebody who took away so many people’s loneliness could have ended up…ended up as lonely as he, as he seemed to have…I guess, uh, this is a song called “Bye Bye Johnny”…a dream that comes true, even a good dream, is a dangerous thing…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Johnny Bye Bye”**

“(After the sing-along) Well now…this is a song…about ancient history…I’m not talking about the Mesopotamians…I’m not talking about the Trojans…I’m not talking about the Italians…I’m talking about personal stuff…things from my sordid past (crowd cheers) the kind of stuff that when I die, you’re gonna read about in the National Enquirer (crowd cheers) or if my girlfriend gets mad at me, you’re gonna read about it while I’m still alive (crowd cheers) in one of them tell-all books, you know, that they put out all the time all about the unusual sexual habits and all that kind of stuff (crowd cheers) can’t keep anything a secret any more (chuckles) but, anyway, this goes back to when I was a child, I was only interested in three things…one, my father was a real good pool player, he beat me all the time so I wanted to learn how to play pool really good…and the other one was the guitar (crowd cheers) and then the third one was…you know, that one, that one (crowd cheers) anyway, I remember one Christmastime my mother took me to Sears, it was in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and she got me this pool table for 69.95 and we like tied it to the roof of the car, I remember sitting holding on to it, driving home in the snow, we got to my house and my father made me put it upstairs so we lugged it up the stairs and it just kind of fit in my bedroom so like I used to bring my girlfriends over and I would say “Dad, we’re gonna go up in my room and play pool for a little while” (crowd cheers) so like, you know, I’d go up there, but like, but like he was always kind of slick because if he didn’t hear the pool-balls knocking around or if he didn’t hear the guitar strumming, he had this broomstick that he used to bang on the ceiling (crowd cheers) to interrupt my concentration…but like, but like I kind of tricked him because I used to pull the pool table like real over close to the bed and then every once in a while I’d lean up and knock the pool-balls around a little bit (crowd cheers) that worked pretty good…but anyway, I matured, I grew up (chuckles) and, uh…I put away childish things, stopped playing pool…and of the other two, the only one that I really became good at…was the guitar (crowd cheers) you see, that’s why the shows are so long ‘cause the other thing happens so fast (crowd cheers) but that’s alright because my New Year’s resolution is I’m gonna get it right so I’m still looking for some volunteers who wanna practise, practise, practise (crowd cheers) anyway…gonna get it down this year, ’85 (chuckles) in the end all things must pass…and you ain’t left with nothing but glory days (crowd cheers)…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Glory Days”**

“Oh…glory days (chuckles)…oh yeah…no matter what age you are, you gotta keep, keep searching for that Promised Land…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “The Promised Land”**

“Thanks (crowd cheers) thank you…I guess…I remember ‘round 1975…after, uh, after I’d done the “Born to Run,” “Born to Run”-album, I had a lot of time off…and I sat around wondering, thinking about what it was that I wanted to write about, what I wanted to say…I realised that I wanted to write about struggle ‘cause I guess I felt that for everybody, no matter who you are or what your position is, it’s pretty much a hard way to go out there a lot of times…and uh…but for some people having a hard time…just finding, just getting help at the basic things they need…I know we get a lot on TV now, we’re seeing a lot about the hunger in Ethiopia, which is a terrible and a long-standing thing…but what most people aren’t aware of is that right here in America, the richest country in the world, in every city there’s people going hungry (crowd “cheers”) right here in Indiana there’s more than 600,000 people living below the poverty line…and tonight when you’re gonna, when you go out into the lobby, you’re gonna see some people from the Cleaners Foodbank of Indiana…and what a foodbank is is every year in America twenty percent of all the food that gets produced just gets thrown away or wasted and a foodbank collects that food and gets it to the agencies that serve the people who need it most and that’s (crowd cheers) that’s…old people whose social security checks don’t get ‘em through the month, it’s young kids who are under-nourished, people who’ve been hit by unemployment, I know you’ve had lay-offs around here in the past couple of years…and they are, they are, these are the folks that are out there trying, trying to make Indiana a more decent and a more dignified place to live for everybody (crowd cheers) and they can use your help, if you can just give ‘em a buck or if you can volunteer some time for work in the warehouses or something, you know, this is, sometimes these things seem like they’re happening a long ways away but they’re not, they’re happening right here in your hometown (crowd cheers)…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “My Hometown”**

“(After the sing-along) Are you talking to me? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, middle of “Thunder Road”**

“Yeah (crowd cheers) thanks (crowd cheers) that’s only round one now, we got round two coming up (crowd cheers) we’re gonna take a short break, though…I’m gonna fix my hair and, uh (chuckles) we’ll be back in a little while, if you can, please remember the Cleaners Foodbank, they’re out there, they could use your support, they’d appreciate it, I’d appreciate it, so help ‘em out if you can, don’t go away ‘cause we have not begun to rock (crowd cheers) see you in a little while…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, after “Thunder Road”**

“Sometimes I feel…I feel so lonely and I get so downhearted…and that’s when I need a little help…and I just wanna reach out to somebody somewhere and say…hey there, baby…come on, sugar…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, towards the end of “Dancing in the Dark”**

“What a job this is, what a job!...”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, after “Dancing in the Dark”**

“If you’re hungry inside, shout it out (crowd cheers)…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, at the end of “Hungry Heart”**

“Now you can’t catch me…’cause I’m a roadrunner, baby…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Cadillac Ranch”**

“Alright now…bring it down here...wait a minute…now, this is a song…about the conflict...between worldly things and spiritual health...between desires of the flesh (crowd cheers) and spiritual ecstasy...now, where did this conflict begin?...well, it began in the beginning in a place called the Garden of Eden (crowd cheers) now, the Garden of Eden was originally believed to have been located in Mesopotamia...but the latest theological studies have found out that its actual location was ten miles south of Jersey City, off the New Jersey Turnpike (crowd cheers) that’s why they call it the Garden State (crowd cheers) but, now, understand...in the Garden of Eden, there were none of the accoutrements of modern living... you couldn’t go home at night and crawl up in no soft, little bed, you couldn’t put the little Pop-Tarts in the toaster and get in the sack and watch Johnny Carson...you couldn’t out on to the highway and buy a cheeseburger if you wanted one...no Sir!...in the Garden of Eden there was no sin...there was no sex (crowd boos) man lived in a state of innocence...well, now, when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I live in (crowd cheers) but now before this tour started, I decided to make a spiritual journey to the location of the Garden of Eden to find out the answer to some of these mysteries, why my soul pulls me one way and my body pulls me another...so I hitchhiked on out there and I found out that that place is now occupied by Happy Dan’s Celebrity Used Car Lot...I walked in, the man said to me “Son, you need a yellow convertible, a four-door DeVille with a Continental spare, wide chrome wheels, air-conditioning, automatic heat, a full fold-out bed in your backseat, eight-track tape-deck, TV and a phone so you can speak to your baby when you’re driving all alone” (crowd cheers) I said “I’ll take two”...but then I said “But Dan, that’s really not the reason why I came, you see, I came to find the answer to this temptation that I feel all the time...he said “Son, that’s easy because right here on these ten beautiful commercially-zoned acres was the sweetest little paradise that man had ever seen, in the Garden of Eden there were many wondrous things: there was a Tree of Life, there was a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, there was a man, Adam, there was a woman, Eve, and she looked so fine ...and when Adam kissed her, it was the first time, Son, that a man had ever kissed a woman...and she had legs that were long and soft to the touch (crowd cheers) and when Adam touched her, it was the first time that a man had ever touched a woman (crowd cheers) and then they went and they lay down in the green fields ...and when Adam...well, let’s just say it was the first time (crowd cheers) but there was something else in the Garden of Eden that day, old Satan came slithering up on his belly and somehow he turned their love into a betrayal and sent them running down into the darkness below...but that’s alright because right here tonight on this back lot for 9,995 and no money down, if you’ve got the nerve to ride...I’ve got the keys....to the first....pink....Cadillac...”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Pink Cadillac”**

“I remember it was, it was right around the end of the summertime …it was on this little strip just off the river…and there was this place out underneath these cottonwood trees, it was like a junkyard where people from town’d bring down all the things that they couldn’t use any more…leave ‘em there to, to rust away…we met down there one night…I remember, like, you know how it is when you first meet somebody and you’re first going out, everything you do is fun, laughing all the time, no problems…we’d go out riding… and then somehow it seemed like the things that made her happy once…didn’t make her happy any more and I was spending a lot of my time trying to figure out how to make her happy again…it got to where she didn’t wanna talk, she wanted to stay in all the time…she started hiding my keys at night so I couldn’t take the car…and it got hard to make her understand…and I know she knew once…I know she knew that when I took the car out and when I won that it was the only time I got to feeling good about myself…the only time …and to have just one thing in your whole life that makes you feel proud of yourself…makes you feel like you’re doing something… that’s not too much for anybody to ask, is it? (crowd cheers)… (…) Well, that was the night, that was the night that we left…we still don’t know where we’re going yet but I guess that’ll come in time…but sometimes it seems like time gets running so short on you like it’s gonna run out on you…so much gets lost and left behind…that there’s not much you can do but to keep going and to keep searching and to keep going…and to keep going…and to keep going…and you keep on going…and you keep on going…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Racing in the Street”**

“I’d like to just take a minute and thank everybody for coming down to the show here in Indianapolis, thank you very much (crowd cheers) and uh…and also, I knew a lot of you guys wait a long time in line for tickets out there and I want you to know we appreciate it (crowd cheers) and…I’d also like to thank you for your support of the Cleaners Foodbank of Indiana (crowd cheers) I guess, uh, when you stand up and you say “Well, I’m an American” that means that you’ve got some responsibility to the country that you live in (crowd cheers) there’s a lot…there’s a lot here to be proud of and there’s a lot we have to be ashamed of and uh…a lot of the power of rock’n’roll was always the power of community, the power of friendship (crowd cheers) and none of us can really be free as long as there’s somebody who wants a place to sleep and he ain’t got one and somebody who wants something to eat and he doesn’t have something to eat…’cause in the end nobody wins unless everybody wins…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Born to Run”**

“Alright, on the piano, Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) on the vocals, Patti Scialfa (crowd cheers) on the bass guitar, Mr. Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) on the drums, the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici (crowd cheers) on the guitar, Mr. Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) and last but not least…the king of the world…the emperor of the universe…and the greatest thing you have ever seen…the Big Man, Clarence Clemons on the saxophone (crowd cheers)…alright now…gotta check my schedule…it says “Los Angeles, California…San Francisco…Dallas, Texas…Phoenix, Arizona…Baton Rouge, Louisiana…Birmingham, Alabama…going up to Memphis…head on through New Jersey… down to Washington…Boston…Philadelphia…aah, till we move on out to…Indianapolis, Indiana” (crowd cheers) now, are you folks ready to travel? (crowd cheers) are you ready to travel? (crowd cheers) you gotta go home and pack your bags (crowd cheers) you gotta kiss your baby goodbye (crowd cheers) you gotta quit your job (crowd cheers) you gotta quit school (crowd cheers) you gotta say goodbye to your mama and your papa if you wanna be in a rock’n’roll band (crowd cheers) are you ready to go? (crowd cheers) are you ready to go? (crowd cheers) are you ready to go? (crowd cheers) are you ready to go? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, middle of “Detroit Medley”**

“Don’t be tired out on me now (crowd cheers) ‘cause I’m just about getting my second wind right here (crowd cheers)… (…) Alright…now…how you people in the back there, are you alright way back there? (crowd cheers) you get enough oxygen back there? (chuckles)(crowd cheers) alright…how about all the folks in the bleacher seats back here? (crowd cheers) what about you guys? (crowd cheers) what about you guys? (crowd cheers) oh, how about you guys down here? (crowd cheers) that’s good because… there’s just one thing that I gotta know before I go…I mean… there’s one question that I need an answer to…and that’s…and that’s…and that’s…and that’s…Do you love me?... (…) You must be whipped now (crowd cheers) ah, you gotta be tired now (crowd cheers) you’re just too proud to be admit it, that’s all (crowd cheers) alright, I’ve got my reputation to protect here…Well, shake it a-baby…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Twist and Shout”**

“I know it’s a little early but there’s only 355 more shopping days (crowd cheers) come on, Roy… (…) Here he comes now…the man don’t get no rest…he’s on the road all year long…packing up that Cadillac sled…hitching up them V-8 reindeers…putting on that bad red suit…here he comes over the North Pole…he’s coming over New Jersey (crowd cheers) he’s flying all the way out to Indiana (crowd cheers) to see what them folks is doing out there (crowd cheers) alright, has everybody been good all year? (crowd cheers) nobody lied? (crowd: “No”) nobody cheated on their boyfriend or their girlfriend? (crowd: “No”) good (chuckles) alright, boys and girls, here we go…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, intro to “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”**

“(Clarence: “Merry Christmas, Indiana, Merry Christmas”)(crowd cheers)…Happy Christmas, happy New Year, happy Halloween, happy birthday…happy the rest of your life (crowd cheers)…we love you…”
 * 07.01.85 Indianapolis, IN, after “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”**

//Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi//